TROOPER HURT ON HIGHWAY

A state trooper was hurt Thursday night when a van plowed into his cruiser at an estimated 70 mph as he was parked on I-84 protecting an accident scene, police said.

Four passengers in the van were injured. The driver was charged with reckless driving.

Trooper Kenneth Albert was parked in the left lane of westbound I-84, near Exit 74, to protect emergency workers at the scene of a traffic accident near the median, according to a report by Sgt. Samuel Izzarelli.

The red and blue lights atop Albert's cruiser were on, and road flares were placed behind his car to indicate the left lane was closed, said Izzarelli, a patrol supervisor for the Troop C barracks in Tolland.

Police said the van, carrying five people, drove over the flares and slammed into the back of Albert's 1999 Ford Crown Victoria cruiser shortly after 10 p.m.

The cruiser was forced into the median, and the van veered into the center lane before stopping. Albert suffered neck and back injuries and was taken to Hartford Hospital. He was released on Friday.

The van driver, 20-year-old Bradley Kittenbrink of Pittsburgh, was charged with reckless driving and failure to keep a reasonable distance from other vehicles. The roadway was icy, and Kittenbrink told investigators that he was driving at about 70 mph just before the crash, Sgt. Joseph Biela said. The impact demolished the cruiser.

The passengers injured in Kittenbrink's 1996 Chrysler Town and Country van were: Jamie Lee, 20, of Milton, Mass.; Marietta Papagapitos, 20, of New York City; Geoffrey Anderson, 20, of Minneapolis; and Christopher Colosi, 19, of Everett, Mass.

Lee and Papagapitos were taken to Rockville General Hospital in Vernon, and Anderson and Colosi were taken to Harrington Hospital in Southbridge, Mass. All four were treated and released.

Albert had been parked behind the scene of a car rollover; the driver in that accident wasn't seriously injured, police said.

Albert was the second police officer hurt this week in the Troop C territory. On Tuesday night, Somers Constable Gary Reilly was dragged by a car for about 100 yards, police said. They said the driver, identified by troopers as Jeffrey Ashline of Enfield, was apparently trying to avoid arrest, and police across the state have been searching for him since. Police said Reilly, before he was dragged, had tried to look inside the car Ashline was driving. Reilly is expected to return to full duty.